


give and take

by serendipitousDescent



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 10:46:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15705666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitousDescent/pseuds/serendipitousDescent
Summary: The blue of Naruto's eyes is brighter than ever from this angle. Kiba spent years thinking that he was the equivalent of an abandoned campfire, warm but nearly burnt out, welcoming but alone. It pisses him off that an offhanded comment from Shikamaru of all people pointed him to the truth of it, but he will never forget that particular truth.Naruto is no campfire.Naruto is the sun, bright and burning in the middle of a clear sky. People need him to survive - Kiba needs him, if not in a practical sense, and he constantly reaches towards that warmth. If it burns him, he doesn't know how to change that. Even in this abandoned alleyway, bits and pieces of sunshine falling through the treetop canopy above, Kiba wants and wants and wants.





	give and take

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pornosophical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pornosophical/gifts).



A grin tugs at his lips, revealing pointed teeth for all to see. "C'mon, is that all you got?"

Akamaru huffs - this is almost all _they_ have, like it or not - but more importantly, Hinata pulls herself to her feet despite her knees shaking beneath her. Someone else might take her flushed cheeks and heavy breathing as defeat. Other people are stupid if they're willing to dismiss the tension in her jaw as demure frustration.

Hinata never backs down when she's this tense, so all Kiba has to do is take a jab at her stamina, and she'll keep going for another hour. Two hours, if he mentions Tenten.

He should do that.

His own muscles are straining with the effort of staying upright, but they need the extra training if they want to make it through the Jounin Exam alive.

Never mind that if Kurenai were here, she would take one look at them, sweaty and covered in enough mud to coat her kitchen floor, then demand they go home and clean themselves. She would protest at Kiba goading Hinata into shifting back, hands flattened in preparation for a fight. Good thing that it's just the two of-

A figure lands between them, dark and unexpected, and Kiba throws himself at it.

At him, comes the belated realization as a familiar earthy scent surrounds him, but it's too late to stop himself. Not that Kiba would bother as he throws himself mercilessly across Shino's shoulders.

"The hell do you think you're doing, you dork?" Kiba demands, and he digs his knuckles into the top of Shino's head before he can get a proper answer. "Don't appear out of nowhere like that!"

Shino grunts, faltering beneath Kiba's weight. "I would - appreciate it if you-"

"Not a chance!"

"K-kiba," Hinata murmurs.

Kiba doesn't spare a glance at her. There's no point; looking at her would just confirm the worried lines between her eyebrows.

The three of them knew they would be on the same genin team. Nothing like the Ino-Shika-Cho combination, but a whole lot of common sense made it obvious to their parents, and over a decade of training together has etched their habits into the inside of his skull. It makes them pack, in their own ways. And pack means Kiba thought about separating himself from them for approximately five seconds and not a moment longer.

Pack doesn't stop Kiba from whistling, the high-pitched noise bringing Akamaru running towards him. Kiba braces himself for the impact just as Akamaru leaps into the air, and Shino's composure slips as they're both knocked to the ground, his arms raised to protect himself from the imminent attack.

Kiba cackles as Akamaru pushes his nose between Shino's arm and licks him, less a clear line and more Shino's entire face. The layer of slobber makes his forehead shine, glasses and hood knocked askew, and the unimpressed stare Shino directs at Kiba only makes him laugh harder.

"Shows you!" Kiba forces out, then he gasps for breath when Akamaru licks Shino a second time, his tail wagging eagerly.

"Kiba," Shino starts, a warning lingering in his voice. Then he turns his head away from Akamaru, taking the opportunity to wipe the slobber off his cheek and grimace at the sight of it. "I had only intended-"

"To get yourself killed? Yeah, I would tell. Hinata and I are a deadly pair, you know?"

Shino huffs, carefully sitting up as Akamaru shuffles back, calming the moment Shino starts petting him. Traitor. Kiba trained him better than that. "My intention was not impromptu suicide, although it saddens me that your assessment of my skill is so poor. Particularly after I single-handedly defeated both of you during our last spar. But that is not the current matter at hand-"

"Would you get to it already?" Exasperation seeps into his voice, and Shino frowns at him. "That way I can kick your ass and show you exactly how right I am."

"Naruto has returned."

Hinata's sharp inhale makes Kiba's blood crawl to a stop, jutting into his veins like shards of ice. Well, it doesn't actually stop, because then he would have a lot more to worry about  than running into the embodiment of sunshine during morning spars or afternoon food runs. Good thing that the Inuzuka compound is on the opposite side of the village from Naruto's apartment, otherwise this would be more difficult than it needs to be.

Wait.

No.

Screw that.

Kiba breathes in deeply, then pushes himself up to his feet. "I - got to go. How about you take a raincheck on me kicking your ass, Aburame?"

"Kiba," Hinata starts, and she packs so much emotion into his name that Kiba can't bring himself to look at her. The pity would be too much to handle. Especially from her.

"Let him go," is the last thing Kiba hears before he turns on his heel, belatedly waving over his shoulder.

Leave it to Shino to understand, even when Kiba doesn't understand himself. But this isn't the time to feel grateful, not the time to feel comforted by Akamaru falling in line beside him. Not when there's a blond good-for-nothing idiot wandering around the village, thinking - thinking who knows what.

Kiba has turned everything over in his head too often to be certain of what it means. If it means anything. Too much of his life has become guesswork because of it. He swerves around a civilian couple of the bridge leading into the village proper, and that is guesswork of its own. He can move around them, can follow a certain scent through the village - a scent so warm and heavy that it's burnt around the edges - but he can only guess at what Naruto has done for them.

There must be something.

There always is.

Naruto has a habit of following Kiba around lately, even when they aren't in the same country.

The scent grows, a sure sign that Naruto is around this next corner, and Kiba slows. Technically, he knows that he's only a couple blocks away from the Academy, but everything other than Naruto is a blur. Maybe Kiba should turn back around, should go home and bathe, if just to wash the mud away.

Akamaru glances at him as he hesitates, but this next step might be bigger than any other he's taken. I'll be here, the look says, regardless of any shit that goes down, like Kiba throwing himself head-first at something stupid. He already knows that, but, well, the reminder is nice. Better than Hana showing up before dawn, demanding he wake up before he gets lazy.

Hana would tease him mercilessly if she knew he was hiding like this, so Kiba forces himself to continue forwards. Then Akamaru nudges in the right direct, the nose poking at his back unneeded encouragement.

He forces himself to sweep over the street, but that's also unnecessary.

Kiba is drawn towards Naruto like a moth to a flame, or like Akamaru to leftovers. It helps that the street itself is fairly quiet, and that the few civilians browsing through the store fronts have their attention trained on Naruto as well.

They have had nothing but sun for the past week, but nothing quite compares to the sunshine turning Naruto's hair golden. Or it might be the other way around. Naruto makes the world brighter, encourages colours to become more vibrant, because if anyone had the nerve to change everything so fundamentally, it would be Naruto.

"I've already told you," someone snaps, and the situation clicks into place right as Kiba remembers how to breathe again, "that I don't care what Sasuke is doing. He could be dying of thirst out in Sand Country, and I would be perfectly fine continuing on with my life here!"

"But Sakura-chan, he's-"

Sakura pulls herself up taller, her shoulders drawn back in a way that makes Kiba want to run in the opposite direction, and Naruto falters before she continues, "Nothing was ever going to happen between me and Sasuke, alright? And even if something did happen, it wouldn't have been good."

Then Sakura turns on her heel, disappearing into the Yamanaka flower shop without another word.

Naruto stares at the open shop, but he doesn't follow her inside. The sight of him standing there makes something heavy fill Kiba's throat, all those years of watching and doing nothing rushing back all at once.

Then Akamaru steps away from his side, and his heart beats a mismatched pattern into his rib cage as he follows. There is no time to reconsider, not when his traitor of a best friend has already made the decision for him.

It's worth it.

It will always be worth it when Naruto searches for him the moment after he spots Akamaru. There is the slightest hesitation as they stand across from each other, and Kiba knows Naruto is remembering their last conversation just as he is. But then a wide grin calls to Kiba, inviting him in, and it feels a bit like coming home.

* * *

The first time Kiba meets Naruto, he's fleeing through the village.

Akamaru bites at his heels, urging him to keep running, and laughter pours from his lips. Hana must be looking for him by now. She deserves it for ignoring him too. Her classmates from the Academy act so big and mighty, but most of them can't throw a shuriken.

Which, in Kiba's personal opinion that he will never share with Hana herself, means his sister is better than all of them. Why she bothers trying to impress them when she could be teaching Kiba how to throw shuriken is beyond him. If she does that, then he can become as good as she is and show everyone at the Academy how awesome he is next year.

That's the plan, anyways.

As soon as she catches him.

And after he threatens to tell their mom about her paying more attention to her friends than him when she's supposed to be watching him.

His grin widens as he spots the creek ahead, and he slows to grab Akamaru before sprinting ahead and launching himself into the water. A shocked bark rings through his ears as the cold water cuts into bones and fur alike, but Akamaru doesn't squirm away. He just clings to Kiba as they wade across the creek, wet clothes weighing them down. Getting over the cement bank on the other side will be the difficult part, but worth it.

Cutting off his scent, if only for a few moments, will slow Hana down. Kiba wants her to find him - that doesn't mean he wants to make it easy on her. And if she jumps into the creek after him, then that will be payback for her eating his breakfast yesterday morning.

The faint smell of other people come and gone are overpowered as Kiba reaches the top of bank. His grip falters at the abruptness of it, Akamaru jumping to steady ground just enough to send him stumbling back into the creek.

Nobody should smell like that. Not burnt, not-

Kiba gapes at the eyes peering down at him, one pair brown and the other a bright blue. A boy sits along the edge of the riving, and he smells like a campfire and nothing more. Like no one has ever marked him, not like Hana and his mom mark Kiba each morning and night. Even Hinata and Shino carry traces of other people on them, and they don't understand marking.

Only someone without a pack wouldn't carry another person's scent. Everyone needs a pack, that knowledge coming to Kiba as easily as breathing. Everyone needs a pack, and that includes this boy, all burning with eyes the colour of the sky as he scrambles out of view.

Akamaru barks, a high-pitched warning that Hana is closing in on them. His eyes widen, and he starts his desperate scramble up the bank once more. Hana finding him, soaking wet and stuck in this creek, would be the worst thing that could happen to him. She wouldn't let him live it down.

"C'mon!" Kiba shouts as he hikes a leg up over the edge. "We gotta go before she finds us!"

"I - wait, _who_ -"

Kiba grabs the boy's wrist, then starts towards the village proper, the busy streets in sight at long last.

The boy stiffens beneath his grip, the moment of hesitation almost making Kiba regret his decision to bring his witness along. But it only lasts a moment. A moment before the boy starts leading the way, wide-eyed and grinning as he pulls them down a side street that Kiba never knew existed.

* * *

"Didn't think you'd be back for another week or so." Kiba shoves his hands into his pockets, then starts down the street as he talks. Better to put as much distance between them and Ino as possible, just in case. "Something happen?"

Naruto laughs, light but disjointed.

Their eyes don't meet.

Neither of them make the effort as they settle into a comfortable pace. Kiba doesn't know whether he wants to hit or thank Naruto for not trying to catch his eye, but he can't either of those things right now.

The slightest hint of eye contact would blow his cover right out of the water, after all. It isn't that he's a bad liar - shit, that would have gotten him killed a dozen times over - but Naruto always makes that irrelevant. Naruto is the only person Kiba looks at and can't stop his face from reddening, even back when they were fumbling Academy students. Kiba just covered it up with whole-hearted bravado.

It's not that Kiba is trying to forget anything. Forgetting would be impossible, even if he hadn't spent most days waking up to that one brief moment lingering along the edges of his awareness.

That one moment spread itself out over a decade, and the shock in Naruto's eyes will be forever imprinted into his memory. Then Naruto left the village the next day, leaving Kiba to wallow and regret taking these couple months off to prepare for the Jounin Exam. Leaving him to blame Naruto for that kiss haunting his dreams. As well as stubbing his toe on a corner, and Kurenai cutting through his defenses in an instant during training.

Kiba steals a glance from the corner of his eye, and the frustration behind all those little things fades away. The satisfaction of blaming Naruto is undermined when he would take responsibility for them without hesitation. Except maybe Kiba stubbing his toe.

"It's not a big deal or anything," Naruto says, a moment too late to be believable. "I just got it all taken care of in record time."

Kiba pauses, his eyebrows pulled together, and Naruto glances over at him.

Their eyes catch.

Naruto tries a grin, but the edges of it falter and they both look away again. Putting them back to wandering aimlessly through the village, or so Kiba thinks until Naruto nudges him towards a side street.

"I thought Ōnoki would've kept you around for another month, anyways," Kiba pokes, if only because that is a safer topic than wherever Naruto is leading them.

Naruto could lead him anywhere, and Kiba would walk beside him the entire time. Kiba holds back a laugh, directed entirely at himself. Maybe he would complain and challenge it, but out of everything Naruto has inspired him to be, unwaveringly loyal is perhaps the most obvious. All of the Five Shinobi Countries have followed Naruto into a war because of it, Kiba included, and they would do it again, if that's what it came down to.

"Two months, probably," Naruto agrees, faking a laugh.

Kiba snorts, and he lets himself be led down another narrow path. Leave it to Naruto to gain the favour of the most argumentative person he's ever met. "What're you doing back here, then?"

"Heh, about that-"

"You piss off Kurotsuchi or something? I wouldn't be on the other side of that."

Naruto gapes at him. "What? Have _you_ pissed off Kurotsuchi before?"

"No!" Kiba snaps, and an uncomfortable feeling pricks his skin when the corner of Naruto's mouth tilts upwards into a proper grin. "I just - she's terrifying enough when she's walking around, smiling at people, she's probably even more terrifying when she's angry."

"She's nice," Naruto insists, amusement threaded through his voice.

"That's what you say now! But the next time you're stuck in Iwa and shit accidentally goes down..."

Naruto stops in his tracks, gasping for breath as his shoulders shake with silent laughter. He leans against the side of the building, then glances at Kiba, his head tilted upwards and face awash in happiness.

The blue of Naruto's eyes is brighter than ever from this angle. Kiba spent years thinking that he was the equivalent of an abandoned campfire, warm but nearly burnt out, welcoming but alone. It pisses him off that an offhanded comment from Shikamaru of all people pointed him to the truth of it, but he will never forget that particular truth.

Naruto is no campfire.

Naruto is the sun, bright and burning in the middle of a clear sky. People need him to survive - Kiba needs him, if not in a practical sense, and he constantly reaches towards that warmth. If it burns him, he doesn't know how to change that. Even in this abandoned alleyway, bits and pieces of sunshine falling through the treetop canopy above, Kiba wants and wants and wants.

Last month was just when that wanting reached an all time high. A couple drinks with the rest of the Konoha Twelve left him warm and happy. Then as Kiba stumbled back home, half his strength keeping Naruto upright, leaning over to kiss that personified sunshine felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like it was inevitable, when Naruto surged into the kiss and didn't give an inch.

But Kiba was left burnt when Naruto pulled back just as abruptly. When Naruto fumbled through an excuse of needing of leave. When Naruto nearly tripped over his own feet in his urgency to leave Kiba out in the street.

Kiba couldn't hold onto his dignity afterwards, not when Ino found him still standing outside the bar. She shouldered it well, calling him dog-breath as she dragged him home, but-

But it was a miracle that no one has said anything about it.

All of them knew who Kiba left with, and Ino typically isn't the sort of person who keeps her observations to herself. Kiba half-expected Sakura to show up on his doorstep and demand to know what happened.

"You don't make this easy, do you?" Kiba mutters under his breath.

Naruto doesn't hear him.

Naruto couldn't have heard him, because a burst of laughter slips out right as Kiba speaks, before petering off entirely. And his grin doesn't slip away, and Kiba is left to wonder if he's noticed that this alleyway is barely big enough for two people. Probably not.

"It wasn't Kurotsuchi," Naruto admits, then the grin falls away and his gaze drops to the ground. "Iwa's Council thinks that my... bid for Hokage is a bluff? So, sending me there was just a way to avoid baa-chan going herself. According to them."

Kiba falters. "Who the fuck do they think-"

Naruto looks back up, his gaze fastened on Kiba's arm.

His right arm, which happens to be fully functional and existent.

Kiba refuses to - no, he can't back down at that. Naruto has one sleeve pinned to his shoulder to prevent it from blowing around in the wind, a pleasant gift from Sasuke, but the entire village knows that Sakura is working on something.

Her breakthrough could be only days away at this point. It will be a feat of determination that no one has ever seen before too, because Sakura splits her time between that project of hers and rehabilitating shinobi injured in the war. Naruto could probably ask her to focus on fixing his arm, but he never would. He's a martyr at heart, completely willing to wait years to replace his missing arm, so long as others get help first.

"Baa-chan probably won't retire for a few years, anyways," Naruto says, quietly.

The weak laughter that follows breaks the rest of Kiba's patience.

Kiba would force himself through a lot for the people he cares about. A lot of shit that he would carry without being asked to, because that's part of being in a pack. His mom can't handle the duties of clan head without Kiba helping with the puppies some nights. The clan itself wouldn't survive if everyone didn't help rebuild, if they didn't do what they could, when they could.

But Kiba doesn't know what Naruto needs with only a look. He needs to be told first. Naruto is a burning campfire, waiting for people to gather around him. Naruto is the sun, a source of warmth that guides people through their lives without wavering.

Naruto is also a stubborn idiot that Kiba needs to grapple into paying attention to him. Not because Naruto doesn't care, but because he forgets about the day-to-day part of friendship.

For someone who excels at grand gestures, at shouting the importance of his friends from the rooftops, Naruto should expect more from people. Because Kiba sure as fuck isn't going to sit around and watch Naruto struggle with diplomatic missions of all things. Not when he could do something about it.

Kiba exhales slowly, then pulls himself up. "Bullshit."

* * *

"Bullshit."

Naruto draws into himself, but that can't hide his hands, clenched into the hospital bed sheets.

Right about now is when Kiba should back down, should let Naruto lick his wounds in peace. Kiba can't imagine losing Hinata or Shino like that, after all, and he agreed to help track down Sasuke. He threw caution to the wind and went on that mission, then he nearly got killed because Naruto asked him to be there.

His mom would warn him to play the long game, because pushing Naruto over the edge of whatever he's wavering on might destroy everything. But the need to fight still runs through Kiba's veins, overriding everything else.

Coming here wasn't even a choice he intended to make. His own room was too quiet when he woke up, and Akamaru curled up at the foot of his bed couldn't satisfy his desire to be around people.

"Bull _shit_ ," Kiba repeats, spitting out the word as he pulls himself up. "You think you can save that bastard? He left-"

"I know."

Kiba spends all of a second taking in Naruto's clenched jaw and downcast gaze, before he charges ahead. "Then you should know he's not coming back! That Uchiha bastard cares more about his so-called revenge than anyone in the village."

"I know," Naruto says, "but I won't let that stop me."

"You should!"

"I can't!"

A lump forms in the back of his throat as he stands there, scrambling for something else to say.

Akamaru whines, a low warning that Kiba barely hears, and he - he knows that he needs to stop, to back pedal until he hits something solid. Naruto looks like the Haimaru brothers right now, at least after Hana comes home injured after a mission, all coiled frustration with no release.

Kiba isn't known for his restraint or his patience, but this once, he might make an exception. Not for Sasuke, because Kiba has every intention of punching that bastard so hard that even medical jutsu won't take out the sting of it, but for Naruto. Kiba will wait for him to bring Sasuke back, rather than track Sasuke down himself and demand that he never come back. Regardless of what Naruto says or does.

"You don't understand," Naruto continues, unaware of Kiba's decision as he looks out the window. "Sasuke was my first friend. I can't just let that snake bastard take him away."

Kiba grits his teeth, but his gaze follows the gentle curve of Naruto's neck.

Reaching over to run his hand along it would be all too easy. If Naruto were an Inuzuka, this would be an open invitation for Kiba to mark him.

But Naruto isn't an Inuzuka, so it isn't an invitation. He wouldn't understand Kiba adding his own scent to the faint mix of Team Seven and Iruka-sensei that surrounds him. The only people who would understand are other Inuzuka, and the teasing when his family notices would be too much to bear.

That doesn't stop Kiba from wanting.

"Yeah, well, maybe you should look around before you say shit like that," Kiba mutters.

Naruto jerks out of his daze and starts to say something, but Kiba turns and leaves the room before he can hear it. His limbs ache and his head feels too light, but maybe someone back at the compound will agree to spar with him. Or Hana will take one look at him, then throw him head-first into the nursery.

* * *

"Bullshit?" Naruto echoes with a frown.

Kiba narrows his eyes, and the alleyway feels smaller than ever. It could only be an unavoidable side effect of being around Naruto, but he can't let it catch him by surprise now. "Yes, bullshit!"

"Baa-chan talks about retiring a lot, but everyone knows she won't step down until everything's figured out."

"That's not what I'm talking about," Kiba says, a growl underlining his words.

"Huh?"

Kiba inhales sharply, then surges forward, gripping Naruto's collar as he pins him to the wall. "Use us - use _me_ , you idiot!"

"Kiba-"

"No, you listen to me for one damn second." Naruto blinks, light catching the blue of his eyes, but Kiba does not falter. He's needed to say this for longer than he's known how to put the feeling into words. "I want you to be my Hokage. I want you to win the daimyō's favour, and - I don't know, prove some dusty old bastards in Iwa wrong. If you need help making that happen, then all you need to do is ask!"

I will support you if it takes everything I have, is what remains unsaid, but Naruto gapes at him so obviously that Kiba may as well have spelled out the sentiment word for word. Kiba wants to shout it in the streets. The entire village should know exactly how far he'll go to help that lonely boy who tugged him through side streets and into crowds who stopped and stared.

"If you want me to help you prove them wrong, I will. And not just those bastards in Iwa either," Kiba murmurs, and the meaning packed into those few words turn it into both a threat and a promise. "Everyone."

"Kiba-" Naruto cuts himself off, and his gaze drops a handful of centimetres. Memories of their kiss wash over him, but Kiba doesn't pull back, and he certainly doesn't let his grip on Naruto loosen. "Sakura - you know, she'll have everything figured out soon."

Kiba snorts. "Is missing an arm actually holding you back that much?"

"I could still beat you, if I wanted to," Naruto declares.

"Then waiting for Sakura sounds a lot like defeat to me."

Naruto bristles, but still doesn't push him away. "I wasn't asking for your opinion!"

"Yeah, well, maybe you should!" Kiba barks back, and he can almost feel Naruto's heartbeat from here, they're standing so close. "Because my opinion is that you should bring me to Iwa. Then the two of us can show them just how capable you are, arm or no arm!"

Naruto lunges forward.

Not to the side, not push Kiba back to argue about this properly. Kiba loses his grip on Naruto's collar just as warm lips land against his own, just off-centre and awkward enough that Kiba is left staring, dedicating each of Naruto's pale eyelashes to memory.

Then he realizes what's happening and kisses back, right before Naruto pulls away. Kiba melts into the kiss more easily than he thought possible. Naruto's lips are chapped, the cracked skin making the kiss no less wanted, because it feels like Kiba is coming home to something. Like he's walking into a house blindfolded, but it doesn't stop him from knowing it's home the moment he crosses the threshold.

Naruto was always going to be home for him.

Kiba exhales softly when the kiss slows to stop, and one of his hands rests thoughtlessly on the side of Naruto's neck. Not that marking Naruto matters much now. Even non-Inuzuka will be able to see signs of being well-kissed on him. If anything, it just guarantees that his family won't let him hear the end of it when he eventually wanders back to the compound.

Teasing is something Kiba can live with, if it comes like this.

"I thought...," Kiba starts, unable to put the feeling into words.

"You - of course you had to go and screw everything up," Naruto complains, but the force of his smile could turn anyone speechless. It certainly manages to make Kiba shut up. "I was going to bring you back to my place, then apologize and if everything went well, I would make you dinner or lunch or _something_."

They are only a block or two away from Naruto's apartment, Kiba realizes belatedly. It wouldn't have taken them more than a minute or two to get there, and he should want to hear that apology still.

But words are for people who aren't him right now. There might be a reason for Naruto pushing him away before, but whatever that reason is, Naruto is here with him. And Kiba leans back in, and the soft brush of their lips turns this moment into something real. It has to be real when Naruto is still standing here, kissing him back like this is something for them to treasure.

Kiba smiles as the kiss comes to a gradual stop. "You know, I'm actually kind of hungry right now."

"Yeah?" Naruto whispers back.

"And if someone were to make me dinner or lunch or something, I'd be able to come up with an awesome plan to handle Iwa."

A grin quickly spreads back across Naruto's face, all of that brightness directed at Kiba. "I happen to know someone who can cook, if you want to come over."

"Deal," Kiba says, then he lets himself be tugged down the street by a man who smells a bit like the sun and a bit like a campfire.

A campfire that has a couple dozen people gathered around it as they enjoy the heat, all teasing and trading stories. Kiba is one of those people, and nobody can pry him away from it now.


End file.
